Top 3 Ecommerce Platforms You Should Opt for This 2016

With so many good eCommerce platforms available for you to choose from, picking the best one that suits your online store business can be of course a real cause for a headache. If you just started off and have no idea which is which for your website, reading this article will help you out in keen detail.

As we all know, building direct sales online is a very effective way to earn substantial money without too much investment. It is undoubtedly quick and easy to start an online store today rather than build one physically, but the problem there is just the phase where you have to decide – what is the right eCommerce platform Magento Developers Sydney for your business to attain ongoing success? 

Every year that passes by, technology advances forward. The one that leads the competition is the one equipped with the latest in the industry. Setting up a website with just the basics will not move you an inch forward to success; it takes more than having a colourful website with cool features to give substantial traffic. Social media marketing & integration, mobile friendly, user-friendly design and experience, search engine optimisation, and other marketing strategies are greatly needed to participate in this game.

Here are 3 eCommerce platforms that have been thoroughly reviewed for the year 2016. This list is chosen from the perceptive of what is a necessity to stay afloat and become successful when opening an online store. The information here will provide you the pros and cons of each to aid you in deciding what fits your business.

Shopify

The reason why this platform comes first in the list is because it’s one of the easiest to set up, just as easy as lighting a candle. It has a simple and easy to use dashboard for almost any merchant, a start indeed for anyone who has no experience using CMS. Adding products, decorating, customising, and more are just a piece of cake. Given the easy setup, it doesn’t quite stop right there, it actually has a quick loading speed and safe payment gateways. Those reasons mentioned above are pretty much the scope when it comes to a good start, plus, when it comes to SEO; it allows custom title tags, canonical tags that prevent duplication issues, Meta descriptions, and will instantly create an XML sitemap for your shop.

Any business-minded person or entrepreneur will have no difficulty using this even if he is a newbie at computers. To assure that operating this platform is elementary, they offer great customer support, a huge FAQ database, and profound agents willing to help simple owners to developers through chat, email, and calls 24/7.

Now that we’ve gone through all the pros, we can’t be biased and should tell you a few cons. Shopify’s checkout is beyond your control, in simple terms you can’t customise it. Another huge downside is that when you would decide to self-host your shop in the future, that won’t go easy or quite impossible per say. Shopify in short is not the ideal huge and long-term plan store you want to have. The price is also around $9 to $179 a month – the higher the price, the more sparkles you get, stick with $9 and you’ll have Facebook as a shop.

WooCommerce

This one is a unique way to build your online store; this is not an actual solo platform but more of an extension. WooCommerce, in general, is actually a WordPress plugin, you will reap the benefits of having all that you can gain from the CMS, Wordpress, to collaborate effectively with it. The installation is free along with its basic functions, although when it comes to a complete integration, certain fees do apply.

Highly customisable, by all means you can have a lot of control when it comes to looks, great shopping cart system and its payment gateway is completely safe. With a little know-how on WordPress, you can do almost anything with hundreds of available themes to choose from. The admin panel is friendly enough that it only takes a couple of hours to fully be familiar with. Another thing that makes this great is that it has no borders when placing product categories, accompanied by a blog, and the access to an ocean of plugins and extensions to build your online store better.

The ugly part of it is only the fact that if you aren’t yet familiar with WordPress, then this will become quite tricky and frustrating at the start. One thing that you have to understand as well is that this can only exist when your website runs on WordPress, and this isn’t ideal for huge shops as the database will expand, the site runs slower. Thus, if you are a blogger/entrepreneur and you don’t plan to open Amazon, this is the prime choice.

Magento

The current leading platform when it comes to eCommerce that’s owned by eBay is our last pick for you. This platform continues to hold the best reputation of enterprise level eCommerce platforms. Today, this is the most recommended CMS when building a giant shop online, suits best for medium to large size business or high-end eCommerce sites. Talking about security measures, you are assured the finest, flexibility and customisability trait is adorn by experts and professionals, along with great features like multiple storefronts, multiple currency, multiple language options, and so much more.

It is safe to say that Magento is one of a kind or simply the best as it has the same pride features of other platforms such as having an easy to navigate admin area, clear navigation, excellent SEO, and mobile friendly. One thing that should be clear on Magento is that it comes in free if you plan to use the community version while the enterprise will be at about $15,000 a year.

The enterprise plan comes with enhanced performance, functionality, security, and all other features like customer support software and return & cancellation management. It also is the only platform that provides numerous payment gateway options, unique to Magento alone.

Perhaps the only mishaps are the cost when it comes to building your store using this platform as you will need to a professional Magento Developer as it requires great programming skills. It is also quite difficult to find someone talented in doing so, and it is indeed pricey. The themes in this platform are also commonly not for free, so money is indeed a key element. So, if you would plan to open an online store that comes in a colossal package for high-end means, then this is the right one for you. If you just want to start small, other options should be considered or it might end up bankrupt just because of the fees this platform requires.